U.S. History: Sample Standard

The causes of the American Revolution, the ideas and interests
involved in forging the revolutionary movement, and the reasons for the
American victory.

What Students Should Be Able To Do:

Demonstrate understanding of the causes of the American Revolution
by:

Explaining the consequences of the Seven Years War and the
overhaul of English imperial policy following the Treaty of Paris in
1763, demonstrating the connections between the antecedent and
consequent events. (Grades 5-12)

Comparing the arguments advanced by defenders and opponents of
the new imperial policy on the traditional rights of English people
and the legitimacy of asking the colonies to pay a share of the costs
of empire. (Grades 5-12)

Reconstructing the chronology of the critical events leading to
the outbreak of armed conflict between the American colonies and
England. (Grades 5-12)

Analyzing the connection between political ideas and economic
interests and comparing the ideas and interests of different groups.
(Grades 7-12)

Reconstructing the arguments among patriots and loyalists about
independence and drawing conclusions about how the decision to
declare independence was reached. (Grades 9-12)

Examples of Student Achievement:

Grades 5-6: Select, chronologically order, and explain the major
events leading to the outbreak of conflict at Lexington and
Concord.

Grades 7-8: Marshal historical evidence, including events leading
up to the "shot heard 'round the world,'' and develop a historical
argument on such questions as the following: Was the outbreak of
conflict at Lexington and Concord probable? Could any action at that
point have prevented war with England?

Grades 9-12: Construct a historical narrative analyzing the
factors which explain why a person chose to be a loyalist or a
patriot. Why did approximately one-third of the colonists want to
remain neutral? Did economic and social differences play a role in
how people chose sides? Explain.

World History: Sample Standard

What Students Should Know:

Patterns of crisis and recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300-1450.

What Students Should Be Able To Do:

Demonstrate understanding of the significance of the Black Death and
the recurring plague pandemic in the 14th century by:

Explaining the origins and characteristics of the plague pandemic
of the mid-14th century and describing its spread across Eurasia and
North Africa.

Analyzing the demographic, economic, social, and political
effects of the plague pandemic in China, Inner Asia, Europe, and the
central Islamic lands in the second half of the 14th century.

Assessing ways in which long-term climatic change contributed to
Europe's economic and social crisis in the 14th century.

Examples of Student Achievement:

Grades 5-6: Write a short story or a play about families in
Christian Europe and Islamic Europe and Southwest Asia during the
height of the great plague. Did people know the causes of the plague?
How did they respond to the plague? Was the response different in
Christian and Islamic areas? How did the plague change the lives of
those who survived?

Grades 7-8: Map the origin and spread of plague on a
physical-relief map. Hypothesize about the connection of the spread
of the disease with the flow of goods along the Silk Route due to
Mongol control of the region. Connect the spread of the disease in
Europe to heavy rains and poor crops that had already weakened the
population. What areas were spared the ravages of the plague?

Grades 9-12: Examine primary sources, such as Jacob von
Konigshofen's chronicle of the cremation of Strasbourg Jews, and
secondary accounts of scapegoating during the great plague. How did
the pogroms affect Jewish communities in the Holy Roman Empire? Why
did Jews flee to Poland and Russia in the mid-14th century? What do
the accounts of scapegoating tell you about attitudes and values in
Europe during the Middle Ages?

SOURCE: National History Standards Project.

Vol. 13, Issue 36

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